Distribution
Filmmaking - Distribution
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IFP Announces Fall and Winter Slate for the Theatrical Screen Forward Series
IFP has announced the complete lineup for the Fall and Winter season of their Screen Forward series. The four films, Field Niggas, Funny Bunny, Cronies and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, will each receive a weeklong theatrical run at the Made in New York Media Center by IFP in Dumbo. Read up on the films below. October 16 – October 22 FIELD NIGGAS, directed by Khalik Allah A wise-cracking, probing urban flaneur, Khalik Allah paints an impressionistic portrait of the loiterers and denizens in and around 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Field Niggas. Beneath the bright lights of a corner convenience store, Allah […]
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IFP Screen Forward: 5 Questions for Sales Agent and Producer Bill Strauss
You can conceive an ingenious plot, pen the perfect script, even begin to line up your ultimate cast — but it all risks being for naught if you can’t sell your vision. Even today, as alternative platforms emerge onto the distribution landscape, a successful pitch and getting that greenlight remains one of the most critical steps towards your project seeing the light of day, not to mention one of the most intimidating. But what goes into — and stays out of — making a powerful pitch? How do the people on the other side of that desk approach the process […]
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An Unpredictable Release: Four Surprising Facts about It Follows’ Road to Success
During the second day of IFP’s Screen Forward conference, Indiewire’s Eric Kohn moderated a discussion between Animal Kingdom producers Joshua Astrachan and David Kaplan, and former Radius-TWC CEO Tom Quinn on the breakout success of David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows. An indie juggernaut, It Follows grossed 15 times its $1.3 million budget at the box office, in large part due to Radius’s last minute decision to stall VOD and expand to a wide release two weeks after its limited theatrical opening on March 13, riding the wave of word of mouth rather than costly P&A. Below are four major takeaways on the film’s unusual […]
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Exclusive: Fandor Announces Second Round of Original FIXshorts, Including Tombstone Rashomon from Alex Cox
In March, Fandor announced the creation of their FIXshorts program, which funded and offered streaming distribution to 5 short form proposals from FIX filmmakers. For the second round of the initiative, Fandor is expanding their reach to include the likes of Alex Cox: his short Tombstone Rashomon (and six of his features) will receive an exclusive premiere on Fandor, along with four original short films from FIX filmmakers to round out the pack. Cox is currently funding his film on Indiegogo, while the other four projects will be partially financed by Fandor before raising the rest of their budgets on Kickstarter, with monthlong campaigns […]
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Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack and Charlotte Cook Launch Field of Vision, The Intercept’s Documentary Unit
Today it was announced that Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack and Charlotte Cook will collaborate to launch Field of Vision, the visual journalism arm of The Intercept, of which Poitras serves as a co-editor. The trio will work together to commission between 40 and 50 short-form nonfiction films each year, with the first season debuting on The Intercept on September 29, following the world premiere of Poitras’ Asylum as part of “Field of Vision: New Episodic Nonfiction” at the NYFF on September 27. You can expect new work from 25 New Faces Iva Radivojevic and Dustin Guy Defa, along with Poitras d.p. Kirsten Johnson, […]
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Programmer Ryan Edgington on Videology’s Move to Theatrical Runs with Mark Duplass Production Creep
In a flurry of recent announcements that include the launch of Metrograph, a repertory and indie cinema on the Lower East Side, and the expansion of Greenwich Village’s IFC Center, New York is beating back against the so-called deterioration of the theatrical experience. The Williamsburg bar-video rental store-screening room Videology, along with its neighboring Spectacle, is also dipping its toe into the weeklong run, with an exclusive release of Patrick Brice’s first film, Creep, on the heals of its extended runs of Drafthouse titles Roar and The Tribe. Filmmaker spoke to programmer Ryan Edgington about the venue’s transition, if “eventizing” is necessary to draw audiences, and what else […]
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Stealing Thunder: How to Fight Piracy While Remaining Cool
If you’re like most young-ish filmmakers, you grew up and matured in an open source world of Napster, YouTube and BitTorrent. Whether it was making mixtapes for your college girlfriend, or ripping CDs and DVDs with your film school pals, “appropriating media” might have been a way of life for you to consume and share your favorite songs, films and TV. You scoffed at FBI warnings on VHS tapes and mocked MPAA PSAs. You’ve mashed up, mixed up and just plain stolen your way through the early 21st century with nary a tinge of regret. Hell, we’re living in an […]
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Milestone Films’ Dennis Doros on Ornette: Made in America and Project Shirley
Since founding Milestone Films in 1990, the husband and wife team of Dennis Doros and Amy Heller have been restoring and distributing some of the most significant and overlooked titles in the American independent cannon. Ornette: Made in America, one of four feature films in their “Project Shirley” Shirley Clarke collection, is wrapping up a week long run at Spectacle today, as part of a celebration of Ornette Coleman. Filmmaker spoke to Doros about the acquisition and restoration process behind Clarke’s characteristically singular documentary, as well as Milestone’s recent objection to Stephen Winter’s Jason and Shirley, which liberally re-imagines the set of Portrait of […]
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MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel on the Move to Theatrical Distribution with Arabian Nights
Yesterday, the SVOD service MUBI announced its foray into theatrical distribution with the acquisition of Miguel Gomes’ much lauded Cannes triptych Arabian Nights. The move, in line with the recent trajectories of larger services such as Netflix and Amazon, points toward the ever expanding influence of online platforms. Filmmaker spoke to MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel about partnering with New Wave Films to distribute what some might term a challenging title, given its six hour runtime. Filmmaker: There seems to be yet another paradigm shift happening in independent distribution, with online services, formerly an alternative to theatrical exhibition, now entering that very arena. Why did you […]
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Distribution Transparency: Four Filmmakers Reveal Their Numbers, Part Two
Tuesday’s post looked at Neil Berkeley and Judy Chaikin as two filmmakers who wanted to create a theatrical release for their films to boost visibility, increase ancillary value and learn for themselves how to operate in the new hybrid model of distribution and marketing. Today we will look at Paco de Onís from Skylight, the company he runs with creative director Pamela Yates and editorial director Peter Kinoy, and their film/media project Granito Paco de Onís, Skylight and Granito According to de Onís, Skylight is “as much a filmmaking organization as a human rights organization.” Hence their goals are not about monetary gain […]
